Dow teamed up with Jessica Walsh, art director and partner at NYC based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh, to bring her global initiative to Auckland.

Jessica started Ladies, Wine & Design in New York after doing a lot of thinking and reading on why there are so few female creative directors. She believes we can create change through mentorship and championing each others' work.

As a female-led creative company in Auckland, we are inspired by Jessica's global call for open conversations on design and leadership. Auckland has more than it's fair share of exceptionally creative women and it is our hope to encourage recognition and success for them through LWD.

We hosted our first courtyard conversation 'Chit-chats with Boss Babes', here at Dow Design in February. Twenty ladies joined us for wine, nibbles and casual 'chit-chats' with three incredible 'boss babes' Michele Whitecliffe (President, Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design), Claire Sullivan (Publisher & Editor-in-chief of Denizen — Denizen Modern Living — Denizen Navigator) and Alison Barass (Professional Director). The conversation was hilarious, candid, and filled with career insights.

Nowadays, the sales range of goods spans across the world. It is not difficult for us to drink Russian vodka in New Zealand or taste fruits from Brazil in Japan. Packaging exists everywhere. It exists on the shelves in supermarkets, in our fridges, cabinets, gifts, and cosmetics; even some fruits of farms need packaging. However, with today’s environmental issues becoming increasingly prominent, reducing waste, saving energy, and improving sustainability of the overall products and creating green packaging have become hot topics in the packaging industry. So how do designers find ecological ways to design packaging strategies that protect the product while ensuring that the packaging is more sustainable and not harmful for environment? Contemporary designers are finding unique and multi-functional ways to manipulate materials, structures and uses to make packaging recyclable, biodegradable, and reusable. More than 100 brilliant ideas from all over the world are showcased in this book, which are presented in insightful detail with glorious full-color photography throughout. This book will inspire both design creativity and reveal ways to help counter significant environmental issues facing the world today.

The amazing team at Portfolio Recruitment who assisted me in finding my dream role at Dow Design are running a Junior Q&A Series. I kicked it off with my own experiences and advice – check it out here.

That would have to be the biggest piece of advice I’d give to any passionate and ambitious design student – find a position where your employers care about you professionally and as a person.

2016 is all about exciting new challenges, one of them being Studio Arc. Studio Arc is the platform where I will be marketing my bespoke illustrations, homewares and stationery. These are also availbe on Etsy and Society6.

To the end of 2015 I did a stint at Strategy Design and Advertising Auckland, creating the Applause Issue 21 publication featuring: 2015 award recipients along with interviews with prior recipients, Boosted School of Crowdfunding and the future of philanthropy in the arts.

Not only was it an amazing project to involved in, the Strategy team was incredible to work with.

For the first couple of years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and you work will be as good as your ambitions.

It is such an incredible honour for my Graduate project Meld to be recognised by an esteemed group of judges in the first ever Concepts We Wish Were Real competition by The Dieline. My project received First in the Fresh and Prepared food packaging category.

This project for Burnside Landscaping was a family collaboration. My father, Rod, has been operating this business for 30 years, offering premium landscaping and project management services in Auckland and the Coromandel.

Although growing up and being aware of projects dad was involved in, working through his archive of images was absolutely astounding – an un-edited example of what blood, sweat and tears can literally achieve!

The tree illustration was an existing element from his original identity which I redrew and simplified.

Remember Them remembers all who served in WWI. Almost 100,000 New Zealanders (10% of all Kiwis at that time) served overseas in WWI, with over 18,000 dying and 40,000 injured. The total number of casualties for all countries in WWI was 37 million. The Art of Remembrance provides two unique and permanent ways for us to Remember Them.

On 24 March 2015, Max Gimblett created multiple handpainted ink works rendered with Japanese Sumi ink on Arches cold press watercolour paper. The artist then selected seven designs from these works to be hand-printed as multiples. Solid brass quatrefoils were then laser cut and primed to ensure that the artworks do not need to be brass cleaned. They were then individually hand screen printed.

I purchased my three pieces from Workshop, where you view all of the seven designs.

This week was an exciting one – finding out that I am finalist in the AGDA (Australia Graphic Design Association) Awards for my graduate project Meld in the Student Packaging category. Such an honour for my work to be selected and to be amongst such top company.

Last week I picked up copy of this beautiful publication Blutopia from the Auckland Art Gallery. Inhouse, the masters of artists books have created another astounding publication this time with John Reynolds. Each copy has an equally illustrated cover, a piece of art in itself.

Two pieces of collateral for Mixit that were created during my time at Goodfolk.

Mixit – a project that uses creativity to empower young people. It helps increase confidence, self-expression and communication skills. It’s a multi-cultural platform where young people with refugee backgrounds mix it up with local and migrant youth. It’s about bringing people together from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences and getting involved in creative projects together which offer opportunities to establish networks in your life – meet new people, artists and others who may be able to help you with the transitions from school into study, training and life.

Student Jeannie Burnside caught herself wondering, “How can innovative brand and packaging solutions be a catalyst for busy people to improve their eating?” So often, our convenient, on-the-go food options contain unhealthy ingredients and additives. We desire the ease of something simple, but we also crave health. Burnside’s student project, Meld, aims to find the middle ground between these two.

“Brand and packaging design is employed to present a new meal system that consists of controlled portion sizes and organic wholefoods, to cater to the needs of busy health-conscious consumers. To understand this method of building a meal I have established a graphic system to illustrate the principles of individual servings, the respective nutritional categories and how when five packages are melded together, one wholesome meal is produced. I was concerned with developing a new graphic language to convey Meld’s brand values of honesty and natural goodness by addressing the use of ‘greenwashing,’ typically used to imply ecologically friendly products. Consumer research studies state that consumers are wary of the conventional signifiers of sustainability and ‘health food’ promises, which I have addressed with a concept that focuses on transparency and system.”

The purity and goodness of what Meld provides stands out through the clear packaging. A literal food pyramid itself, the shape is unusual but provides just the right amount of the food. Because the packaging doesn’t add on bulk or weight, it’s an easy and convenient option for busy customers concerned about their health.

“Positioned as an independent convenience food market in metro city centres, Meld offers the best of two worlds, fast moving consumer good convenience and healthy wholefoods. It seeks to improve both consumer health and minimise environmental waste by reducing the quantity of food consumed and excess food disposed of. Meld promotes a healthy lifestyle inside and out.”

Our last day started with a lecture from Other Means (the organisers of the New York Typography Summer School) and was followed up with some very busy studio time to prepare our presentations. Group 4's (my group) client [name: dispatches] was unable to meet us in NYC so we had a Skype conference. Two hours later and a few technical issues we were all presented... and ready for wine.

We finished the New York Typography Summer School with a graduation ceremony, class photo and Karaoke in Chinatown.

New York Typography Summer School class photo

A very special Thank You to Other Means (Ryan, Phil and Gary), Fraser, the guest lecturers and the amazing bunch of people I was able to work and hang out with.

Bio //Other Means is the graphic design studio of Gary Fogelson, Phil Lubliner, and Ryan Waller. Recent clients include ICA Philadelphia, Goethe Institut New York, Retrospective Gallery, Ludlow 38, Museum of Arts and Design, and The New York Times. In addition to their client work they teach in the graduate and undergraduate communication design departments at Pratt Institute; have been lecturers and visiting critics at California Institute of Arts, Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, SVA and Yale School of Art; and co-run Primetime, a non-commercial project space in Brooklyn's Donut District (DoDi). [from New York Typography Summer School]

Notes from the lecture //_ Interested in everyday typography done be amateurs_ Other Means reject the idea of the 'Crystal Goblet', being more in favour of the 'regional dialect'_ Accent and dialects_ Overt prestige (how you are suppose to speak), covert prestige (accepted in regions) and prestige borrowing (adapting)_ coexistfont.com_ artiscontemporary.org

Bio //Fraser Muggeridge studio is a graphic design company based in Clerkenwell, London. Throughout a wide range of formats, from artists’ books and exhibition catalogs to posters, maps and postcard invites, the studio prioritizes artists’ and writers’ content over the imposition of a signature style. By allowing images and texts to sustain their own intent and impact, each project is approached with an elegantly pared-down aesthetic, with color, typography, paper stock and format playing a key role in arriving at a sympathetic yet subtly alluring object. Fraser teaches on the MA Book Design course at Reading University and on the BA Graphic Design course at Camberwell College of Arts, London. [from the New York Typography Summer School]

Fraser introduced us to his work and of designing / modifying / cracking fonts. How successful this can be for headlines or subtle changes for bodies of text. Sometimes the idea is better than what the end visual is.

Ideas of how this can be achieved?_ Matching stem widths between upper and lower case_ Creating a School Book font (simplified characters – bow vs single story)_ Spacing_ How the punctuation is used / styled_ Aligning to X height_ Using multiple versions of a font_ Using a base font and then messing with it_ Layering fonts / characters_ Art on the Underground project

We were given one hour to make our own modified typefaces and then present as a group each of our ideas.

The presentation line-up

My contribution //Consolas Saver is a lowercase font adapted from the typeface Consolas (a wide and open typeface). I have cut off the ascenders and descenders to the x-height to save space when the font is used.